EXPLORATIONS NEAR THE VILLAGE OF NOVA NADEZHDA (Krum Bacvarov – krum.bacvarov@googlemail.com, Nadezhda Todorova, Vanya Petrova) The site covered two settlement mounds: northwestern one, c. 140 m by 120 m in size and covering an area of c. 1.7 ha, and southeastern one, c. 150 m by 130 m in size and covering an area of c. 1.95 ha, both divided by ravine with a stream. An area of c. 0.1 ha was explored in the northern periphery of the northwestern settlement mound. The strata were 3.20 – 3.80 m thick and contained remains from the Early Neolithic Karanovo I Culture (beginning of the 6th millennium BC), Late Chalcolithic Karanovo VI Culture (end of the 5th millennium BC), and Phase I of the Early Iron Age (end of the 2nd – beginning of the 1st millennia BC). Single sherds from the Late Neolithic period, the Early Chalcolithic period and the Late Iron Age were discovered as well. Five Early Neolithic ditches with V-like and U-like cross-sections were partly explored. The outer ditch was the latest one and was c. 97 m in diameter, up to 3 m wide and down to 1.50 m deep. An Early Neolithic building was discovered, 7.50 m by 5.50 – 6 m in size. Fifteen Early Neolithic graves were explored, containing remains from 19 deceased: seven children (including a baby) and 12 adults (six men, three women and three unspecified). The deceased in eight graves were laid in a Hocker position, while the rest of the graves contained disturbed human bones and/or skulls. The early Neolithic finds included ceramic vessels, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic terracotta figurines, small terracotta cult tables, loom weights, stone tools and pestles, retouched flint flakes, bone and horn spatulas, small spoons, punches and a spearhead, a pendant of a Cardium shell. A Late Chalcolithic ditch was documented with a diameter larger than the diameter of the outer Early Neolithic ditch. Stone foundations of a building were discovered. A pile was explored, consisting of ceramic vessels, anthropomorphic and zoomorphic terracotta figurines, stone tools and terracotta loom weights. The Early Iron Age stratum was up to 80 cm thick. Pits were explored, containing Thracian sherds. Thirty Muslim graves of the 16th – 18th centuries were explored on the northeastern slope of the settlement mound.